Google’s strange list of offensive words for the Android keyboard

Google’s Android keyboard will block offensive words for you, but it also has a few strange additions to that list. While some are pretty obvious, and not worth repeating, some are just not quite necessary. Even better, the autocorrect for some words is just as frustrating as the inclusion on the list.

A recent report by Wired shines a light on the 165,000 word list, and though some words are clearly necessary for the list, others are not. For instance, as Wired notes, words like “condom” bring up “condition”. Others, like “klansman” are rightly blocked. “Nazi”, however, is not. Further adding fuel to the confusing fire, words like “morphine” are disallowed, while “marijuana” is just fine.

The easy conclusion is that Google employees are censoring these things themselves. If that’s true — and we don’t believe it is — they’re doing a poor job. Companies like “AMD” or “Garmin” don’t make an appearance, yet “Apple” and “Microsoft” are fine. Hilariously, “iPhone” is no problem at all, though “Chromebook” and “Zagat” don’t make the cut. Both of those are Google properties and brands.

While the easy fix is to get into settings and turn off the “block offensive words” feature in Google Keyboard, it doesn’t take care of everything. “Chromebook” still isn’t recognized, along with a host of others that simply don’t offend. We get curse words being blocked, but what if you want to ask someone to bring a Chromebook to the hospital for your Uncle who is coming off the morphine drip he needed for his condition so he’ll have something to do? I guess he gets an iPhone instead.